WHY DO I PRAY?

assorted lines from the novels by colin dann.

‘ they are nasty cuts, but they aren’t bleeding anymore. ’

‘ but this isn’t a home. ’

‘ can’t walk. ’

‘ what’s all the fuss about? ’

‘ things are very, very hard. each day is harder. ’

‘ it’s probably just coincidence. ’

‘ nowhere is completely safe. ’

‘ never heard of it. ’

‘ these things happen, my love. ’

‘ how can you fight an enemy you can’t see and know nothing about? ’

‘ no one’s blaming you. ’

‘ you have to eat, don’t you? ’

‘ you’ve had a lot on your mind. ’

‘ i’ve been worrying and worrying about you. ’

‘ i can see you’ve lost weight. ’

‘ aren’t you happy here? ’

‘ this cool weather makes me feel so sleepy. ’

‘ but we’ve been scared before, haven’t we? ’

‘ your friends would be heartbroken. ’

‘ i’m proud to be your __. ’

‘ you go and rest. ’

‘ please let me help you. ’

‘ you’re in a bad way. ’

‘ nobody’s asking you to hang around. ’

‘ there are scratches all over your body. ’

‘ whatever have you got here? ’

‘ you are a courageous __. ’

‘ i’m going to try to help you. ’

‘ but this is your home now. ’

‘ it won’t make any difference to me. ’

‘ you see, i have family ties like everyone else. well, almost everyone else. ’

‘ my life is very lonely. ’

‘ i can never thank you enough for what you did. ’

‘ this isn’t getting us anywhere. ’

‘ look at me, and look hard. ’

‘ you struggle on, but there’s a reward at the end of it. ’

‘ but i’m very, very tired. ’

‘ then my heartfelt good wishes go with you. ’

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠.

❛ You will always fall in love, and it will always be like having your throat cut, just that fast. ❜

❛ You are going to break your promise. ❜

❛ I understand. ❜

❛ And I hold my hands over the ears of my heart, so that I will not hate you. ❜

❛ Oh, I will be cruel to you. ❜

❛ It will stop your breath, how cruel I can be. ❜

❛ But you understand, don’t you? ❜

❛ I am a demanding creature. ❜

❛ I am selfish and cruel and extremely unreasonable. ❜

❛ For you alone I will be weak. ❜

❛ I do not tolerate a world emptied of you. ❜

❛ In the dark, I have pored over the loss of you like pale gold. ❜

❛ I have looked for your face in the patterns of the ice. ❜

❛ I moved the earth and the water for you. ❜

❛ Because my magic is as strong as an arm. ❜

❛ Magic does that. It wastes you away. ❜

❛ Magic does that. It wastes you away. Once it grips you by the ear, the real world gets quieter and quieter, until you can hardly hear it at all. ❜

❛ You will always run away with her. ❜

❛ You will always lose her. ❜

❛ You will always be a fool. ❜

❛ War is not for winning. ❜

❛ But her heart was so cold that she could hold ice in her mouth and it would never melt. ❜

❛ You look like a winter night. ❜

❛ But if you must be clever, then be clever. ❜

❛ Be brave. ❜

❛ Sleep with fists closed and shoot straight. ❜

❛ She is so stubborn, her heart has an argument with her head every time it wants to beat. ❜

❛ How I adore you. ❜

❛ Tell me you want what you want and damn me forever. But don’t leave me. ❜

❛ Oh, quit that. ❜

❛ In his own country, death can be kind. ❜

❛ Bad luck relies on absolutely perfect timing. ❜

❛ Someone ought to write a novel about me. ❜

❛ I savor bitterness - it is born of experience. It is the privilege of one who has truly lived. ❜

❛ What is the world but a boxing ring where fools and devils put up their fists? ❜

❛ After love, no one is what they were before. ❜

❛ In the space of one heartbeat to another I loved you and I was lost to you. ❜

❛ No one is now what they were before the war. There’s just no getting any of it back. ❜

❛ How long your hair has grown. You could strangle a man in it. ❜

❛ I have survived, but I have not been spared. ❜

❛ After all, when all else is gone, you may still have bitterness in abundance. ❜

❛ I’ve a devil of a habit for being right. ❜

❛ Everyone is a criminal! ❜

❛ Naturally, then, humans fall into three categories: the criminal, the not-yet-criminal, and the not-yet-caught. ❜

❛ Forests have secrets. ❜

❛ We are better at this than you are. ❜

❛ We can hold two terrible ideas at once in our hearts. ❜

❛ It’s not so bad, my darling. ❜

❛ I look at you and it is like my throat being cut. ❜

❛ Do you think I am a fool? ❜

❛ Did you never think, even once, that I loved lipstick and rouge for more than their color alone? ❜

❛ I still want to kiss you. ❜

❛ I hate it here. ❜

❛ He’ll burn you down like wax if you let him. ❜

❛ Did I not come to you on my knees with a kingdom in my hand? ❜

❛ I am not a little girl anymore, dazzled by your magic. It is my magic, now, too. ❜

❛ My heart is being cut in two. I cannot bear it. ❜